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| November 17, 2006 Barnstable Patriot |  |
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HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE
Nov. 17, 18 & 19 and
Thanksgiving Weekend
Nov. 24, 25 & 26
WW II sailor...
CONTINUED FROM PAGE A:1
took himto see itlater) but
was not surprised there was
no mention of the role the
U.S. Coast Guard played in
that and other invasions.
"The USSMassachusetts
was there too,"Maynard
said as he recounted some of
his experiences. (The Mas-
sachusetts isnow berthed at
Fall River's Battleship Cove
museum.) WhileEastwood's
movie has its own take on
events leading up to the
famous photo taken of the
flag raisingon Mt. Suribachi,
Nelson says the Coast Guard
"played a smallrole that's
generallyoverlooked" in the
heroic events that led to the
war'smost enduringphoto.
As later related by Coast
Guard QuartermasterRobert
Resnick,who was on duty
aboard the Coast Guard-
manned LST 758 (Landing
Ship Tanks),the Marines
first lashed a Flag to a piece
of pipe at 10:20 a.m. on Feb.
23, five days after the assault
began. But the flag wastoo
smallto be seen any distance.
A larger flag was obtained
from the Navy LST 779, but
the Marineslacked a staff
large enough to accommo-
date it. Resnick says Marine
Rene Gagnon of Manchester,
N.H., who plays a major role
in Eastwood'smovie as one of
the flag-raisers,boarded his
LST and requested another
Americanflag.
Resnick gave him "a num-
ber 7 flag from the ship's bun-
tingbox and a21-foot piece of
steamifitter'spipe." Gagnon
scurried up the mount, the
Marinesraised the flag again,
Associated Press photogra-
pher Joe Rosenthal took the
photo and the rest ishistory.
Duringthe assault and
the five days it took to scale
the mount, Nelson said, "We
stayed close to the beach to
pick up the wounded and
prisoners. I volunteered my
off-duty timeto help feed
them.
'"We stayed there 11days.
That'swhen the Marine
commandersrunningthe Iwo
Jima invasion were told they
had to leave the flagship and
finally go ashore themselves
because the shipwasordered
back to Saipan to return the
inured and prisoners and
prepare for the invasion of
Okinawa.
"That invasion was easy
compared to the previous
landings."Nonetheless, he
said, a priest on the ship
on Easter Sunday gave the
Marines debarking for the
assault conditionalabsolu-
tion. "Likethey say"Nelson
recalled, "there are no athe-
ists in foxholes."
With four major invasions
under hisbelt,Nelsonseems
partialto the first one,D-Day
at Normandy,but IwoJima
wasthe one battlebyMarines
in which the United Stateslost
more troops thanthe enemy.
Nelson talks about one inci-
dent on the Bayfield'sbridge
whilethe shipwas anchored
off Mt. Suribachi and being
used to treat to the wounded
and later transport them to
Saipan for care.
"The executive officer was
on the bridge when he saw a
flash from an old Japanese
barge rotting on the shore
at the foot of Suribachi,"he
said. "Then he felt a bullet
whizby his head. One Japa-
nese soldier had been hiding
there all that time sniping at
troops landing on the beach."
What became adistress-
ingmoment for him,Nelson
recalled,waswhenthreeNavy
planes came downlow strafing
enemy positionsjust off the
beach. "Suddenly,one camein
solowhe didn't pull up, I guess
he washit, and crashed.I felt
very sad seeingthat."
Nelson saidthey took some
prisoners back to Saipan to
be debriefed. "The Japanese
prisoners who didn't die
would talk,"he said. "They
had a lot of information.
"The Bayfield also carried a
group of code talkers,"Nelson
said.They were NavajoIn-
dians who accompanied the
Marines in every Pacific land-
ingto conduct communica-
tions in a nativetongue that
has no written symbols.The
Japanese never broke the
code and amovie, Windtalk-
ers, starringNicholas Cage,
chronicled their exploits in
the Pacific theater.
One of Nelson'stasks
aboard ship wasto make
fresh water from salt water.
"Each crew competed to see
which could make the most
water.We converted about
20,000 gallons a day."He was
also assigned to a damage
control repair group.
Nelson traveled far and
wide onthe Bayfield,from
Englandto North Africa,
across the Atlanticto slice
through the Panama Canal,
then to Hawaii and the war
ragingin the South Pacific.
"It wasthe first time I saw a
palm tree,"he recalls.
Nelson is one of the few
remainingmembers of the
town's Soldiers Memo-
rial Association, in existence
since the CivilWar, according
to TomHolmes, one of the
members. The association
sponsors the annualVeterans
Day parade and thisyear,
instead of marching, Nelson
rode in one of the cars at the
parade last Saturday,per-
sonifyingthe notion that old
veterans never die, theyjust
parade rest.
Indifference to jobs loss stuns workers...
CONTINUED FROM PAGE A:8
etown,who already drives an
hour to work,said she'd have
to log 4,000 miles a month
and drive four to five hours
a day.She said that whilethe
company is offering gener-
ous assistance in making
the change, "I can't imagine
lasting more than a month,
but I'll tryit."She said at her
age she isn't willing to move
from Provincetown. "It's my
home and my lifestyle. I feel
safe there," she said.
Another mother has a dif-
ficult situation to overcome.
Her son is autistic and she
can't be more than an hour
away from him. "There are
issues there ^nd she some-
times has to leave work to
go get him," Radzik said.
Another employee lives
on the Vineyard, creating
transportation hardship.
"Most employees go out
to lunch every day or get it
delivered,"Radzik said. "We
go to Willow Tree, the Ori-
ent Express, the Cape Deli,
D'Angelo's, BJ's Wings and
other places. Sometimes
we go shopping on lunch
break , food shopping at
Trader Joe 's and the su-
permarkets. I think to lose
that is a significant loss of
income. If 50 people spend
$10 to $20 a day (roughly
$1,000 per workday) on
coffe e and lunches, well,
that's a significant amount.
Youwould think they would
want to help appeal to try
to keep that business here,"
Radzik said.
"We don't wear stickers on
our clothing to identify us
as Verizon employees, but
we do business with a lot of
restaurants,the laundry, we
shop for gifts in small stores
like the Red Fish, Blue Fish
and pizza shops ," Torres
added.
Verizonemploys more than
250,000 and generates annual
revenues of around $90 bil-
lion. The local move is part
of ongoing consolidation ef-
forts beingmonitored by the
Communications Workers of
America, said union repre-
sentative Paul Bouchard. He
said the union intends "to
mobilize around the issue."
The union may have to
do so on its own unless the
response from local business
and political figures changes
to a proactive stance.
Assessor records show
the building is owned by
the estate of Ruby Schul-
man, Lawrence Levinson,
trustee , Verizon Portfolio
Management, Tampa, Fla.,
and is assessed at $2,833
million.Local property taxes
in 2006 mounted to $26,171.
The one-story building sits
on 2.3 acres. Verizon was
formed on June 30,2000,with
the merger of Bell Atlantic
Corp.and GTE Corp.but the
call center has occupied the
building for about 36 years,
according to Colon.
"This isn't the first time
there is talk of moving the
center," Torres said. Previ-
ous moves were reconsid-
ered and she said employees
are hoping that can happen
again.
Radzik said she would
have to leave her Mashpee
home at 6:15 a.m. to get to
Taunton on time for work.
That's before her children,
11 and 14, are even up for
school. Then, she said, she
probably wouldn't make it
back home until 7:30 p.m.
or later.
"I'd have to be an idiot to
leave thisjob,"she said. "I'll
probably be there until the
day I die. I'mjust saying the
move is creating hardship,
more thanyou canimagine,"
not only for time spent on
the road , but the cost of
gasoline and the worry for
children left too long alone
to fend for themselves in the
absence of extended family,
make it back home until 7:30
p.m. or later.
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